I’ve been brewing a lot of kefir and kombucha at Waag lately, and although i really like the process for making beverages, i want to experiment with possible other applications for the SCOBY and kefir grains that grow exponential. I joined the lecture of the bio-hack academy about living organisms and there i saw a lot of interesting examples of what is possible with a SCOBY, and i began to wonder if something similar is possible with kefir grains, since they also produce a lot of new grains each batch. The lecture also introduced me into how to work with mycelium. I am very interested in molds, and mycelium seems like a interesting product to work with.
Here are some projects i’ve came across that inspires me and possible projects i want to develop.
Mycelium
Inspiration
Possible projects
Using the mycelium in a moulding and casting assignment.
Using the mycelium to make a case for my fermentation machine.
SCOBY
Inspiration
Possible projects
Research the electrical properties of SCOBY (cellulose) and way to incorporate SCOBY into a engineering projects (using it as a conductor/using it to make a keyboard of other input device.)
Make SCOBY leather, use it to make a bag/phonecase etc.
Kefir grains
Inspiration
This research shows a possible way of using kefir-grains to make bio-plastic
Possible project
Reseach if i can recreate the process of using kefir-grains to make bio-plastic. Also investigate multiple possibilities, such as laser-cutting the material and looking at decomposing time
Bio-luminescent yeast
Inspiration
Crispr-Cas/gene editing (biolab)
Possible project
Brew something (kombucha/cider/beer) glow in the dark.